Dolorean: You Can't Win

Dolorean
You Can’t Win
Yep Roc

This world is not lacking in upstart indie-rustics with Neil Young obsessions, but Dolorean’s Al James is the genuine article. Unlike some of his brethren in the sickeningly hip Portland music scene, James seems cozy in his anonymity—having already released a pair of stark but stirring albums that were lacking only in pretense and marketing schemes. I mean, Dolorean still doesn’t even have a Myspace page, for crying out loud! If the group’s goal is to go forever unnoticed, however, the strength of their new record, You Can’t Win, may betray them.

More so than Dolorean’s previous efforts (2003’s Not Exotic and 2005’s Violence in the Snowy Fields), You Can’t Win sounds like the realization of a full band coming together, rather than a somewhat glorified solo project. Al James is still in control, but his cohorts make their presence felt, especially new guitarist Emil Amos (borrowed from the band Grails), who provides a looser, somewhat flashier complement to James’ acoustic strumming.

Stylistically, James’ songs still dwell in a melancholy landscape reminiscent of the darker corners of R.E.M.’s Automatic For the People, with drifting piano and organ, ghostly harmonies, and complex, reflective lyrics. The opening track, “You Can’t Win,” sets the tone beautifully, as an ominous percussive lead-in gives way to church-worthy keyboards and James’ somehow uplifting repetition of the song and album’s defeatist title. From that point on, there is no shortage of Dolorean’s distinctive pastoral balladry in its finest recorded form yet, especially on “Beachcomber Blues,” “In Love With the Doubt,” and “Heather, Remind Me How This Ends.”

(Andrew Clayman)


Published in The Metro Pulse, February 2007